SAMORAD - Sistema Airborne di MOnitoraggio della RADioattivitą

Monitoring the environmental radioactivity can
provide useful information in many fields of social life: homeland security,
construction industry, environmental protection, geology studies, mineral/gas
and oil processing, etc...
Measuring the environmental radioactivity through the gamma ray spectroscopy
becomes very crucial for the man-made radioactivity control. Few examples are
the radioactive waste from nuclear reactors, or the disasters of Chernobyl and
Fukushima. This technique may help both in looking for illegal disposal of
radioactive sources, and in a better management of the working conditions of
nuclear factories and mine workers.
Unfortunately this technique is not yet well exploited, since there are only
few instruments in the world able to make these kind of measurements.

We conceived the SAMORAD project to accomplish this study, in collaboration
with the University of Siena, whose Geo Technology researchers have a strong
know-how on this topic, Desys S.r.l and Hydea S.p.A.. The project aim is to
develop a high precision instrument for the measurement of the environmental
radioactivity.

These measurements are intended to be made from a helicopter flying over the
area under inspection (through the technique called AGRS - Airborne Gamma Ray
Spectroscopy). The result of those measurements would be made available through
radiometric maps of the areas of interest.

The project is co-funded by the Tuscany Region under the POR CReO Fesr
2007-2013 programme

Starting date: January 2013

Ending date: December 2015

The SAMORAD consortium
officially took up work in January 2013. Its kickoff meeting was held in
CAEN SpA headquarters, the project's coordinator. The consortium consists of two SMEs,
one university and a civil engineering company (end-user). A list of
consortium members is given below. The project is foreseen to be completed
in 24 months, within a budget of EUR 1.6 million, including public and
private sector contributions.